Archives by: Gary Hoag

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:9-10

“Constantly the Bible deals decisively with the inner spirit of slavery that an idolatrous attachment to wealth brings. “If riches increase, set not your heart on them,” counsels the psalmist (Ps. 62:10). The tenth commandment is against covetousness, the inner lust to have, which leads to stealing and oppression. The wise sage understood that “He who trusts in his riches will wither” (Prov. 11:28).

Jesus declared war on the materialism of His day. (And I would suggest that he declares war on the materialism of our day as well.) The Aramaic term for wealth is “mammon” and Jesus condemns it as a rival God: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or He will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13).

He speaks frequently and unambiguously to economic issues. He says, “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” and “Woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:20, 24). He graphically depicts the difficulty of the wealthy entering the kingdom of God to be like a camel walking through the eye of a needle. With God, of course, all things are possible, but Jesus clearly understood the difficulty.

He saw the grip that wealth can have on a person. He knew that “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” which is precisely why he commanded His followers: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth” (Matt. 6:19-21). He is not saying that the heart should or should not be where the treasure is. He is stating the plain fact that wherever you find the treasure, you will find the heart.”

Richard Foster (b. 1942) in Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998) 82-83.

Riches retained by people cause a host of troubles and lead to disaster.

So why do we succumb to temptation? The world tells us we need money to live. What we need is God. But instead, we believe the lie, and it sends us down a bad path.

From there, we rationalize disobedience, ignore Jesus, store up treasure on earth, and pursue wealth though He frequently and unambiguously calls to live differently.

Today’s Scripture from Paul’s first letter to Timothy explains what happens.

Those who are eager for money and want to get rich literally fall into a trap that leads to ruin and destruction.

Generosity comes into view as not only the way to life but the way to avoid death.

For example, pass wealth to your kids and ruin them. Store it up in heaven and choose the way of the poor and teach them experientially to trust God

They see God is faithful so they choose the way to life. Do it for yourself. Do it for your children and grandchildren.

They will thank you in 20 years and in 20 million years.

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The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. Leviticus 25:23

“Before attempting to forge a Christian view of simplicity it is necessary to destroy the prevailing notion that the Bible is ambiguous about economic issues. Often it is felt that our response to wealth is an individual matter. The Bible’s teaching in this area is said to be strictly a matter of private interpretation. We try to believe that Jesus did not address himself to practical economic questions.

No serious reading of Scripture can substantiate such a view. The biblical injunctions against the exploitation of the poor and the accumulation of wealth are clear and straightforward. The Bible challenges nearly every economic value of contemporary society. For example, the Old Testament takes exception to the popular notion of an absolute right to private property. The earth belongs to God, says Scripture, and therefore cannot be held perpetually (Lev. 25:23).

The Old Testament legislation of the year of Jubilee stipulated that all land was to revert back to its original owner. In fact, the Bible declares that wealth itself belongs to God, and one purpose of the year of Jubilee was to provide a regular redistribution of wealth. Such a radical view of economics flies in the face of nearly all contemporary belief and practice. Had Israel faithfully observed the Jubilee it would have dealt a death blow to the perennial problem
of the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer.”

Richard Foster (b. 1942) in Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998) 81-82.

As I dig into Foster’s exploration of the biblical teaching on economic matters I want to declare Jubilee. In plain terms that means, reset. Let us reset our thinking to matching biblical ideas.

What from what Foster proclaimed today convicted you. What needs to reset in your thinking? God’s Word contains explicit teaching for us. The wealth of the earth belongs to Him.

And He has instructions for us. Will we follow them? He is not trying to rob us but help us with His words. He cares about everyone. We tend to only care about ourselves. The instructions are for our collective good and His glory.

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. Matthew 24:12

“We really must understand that the lust for affluence in contemporary society is psychotic. It is psychotic because it has completely lost touch with reality. We crave things we neither need nor enjoy… The mass media have convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick. Until we see how unbalanced our culture has become at this point, we will not be able to deal with the mammon spirit within ourselves nor will we desire Christian simplicity. This psychosis permeates even our mythology. The modern hero is the poor boy who purposefully becomes rich rather than the rich boy who voluntarily becomes poor. … Covetousness we call ambition. Hoarding we call prudence. Greed we call industry.”

Richard Foster (b. 1942) in Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998) 79-80.

Jesus warned us that the prevailing way of thinking in society would become sick, wicked, and psychotic. Today, bad is elevated as good, and good is outdated and irrelevant.

This profound point caught me off guard: “The modern hero is the poor boy who purposefully becomes rich rather than the rich boy who voluntarily becomes poor.” Recently, my study of monks and saints who made a difference for God through the centuries often had “the rich boy [or girl] who voluntarily becomes poor” in the narrative.

Today’s post inspires me to call readers to abandon prevailing patterns and consider how radical obedience, unconditional surrender, and countercultural living might rekindle our love for God.

That’s ultimately what’s at stake here. Sick, wicked, and psychotic people cannot grasp or impart the generosity and love of God to others. And my big concern here is with the next generation.

I was up in the mountains this weekend with my family and noticed many dying trees. This one, however, was full of life, it had much new growth. It came to mind when writing this post. See the new growth on this tree, the long new shoots like fingers. Most trees did not have this. It made me think that most trees might be in the sick category.

If we aim for healthy living we will produce new growth, our health will be evident to all, and like the saints through the centuries, our otherworldly, godly living will impact society in unfathomable ways.

This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated. Ecclesiastes 7:29

“Simplicity is freedom. Duplicity is bondage. Simplicity brings joy and balance. Duplicity brings anxiety and fear. The preacher of Ecclesiastes observes that “God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising.” … The Christian discipline of simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward lifestyle. Both the inward and the outward aspects of simplicity are essential. We deceive ourselves if we believe we can possess the inward reality without its having a profound effect on how we live. To attempt to arrange an outward life-style of simplicity without the inward reality leads to deadly legalism. …

Experiencing the inward reality liberates us outwardly. Speech becomes truthful and honest. The lust for status and position is gone because we no longer need status and position. We cease from showy extravagance not on the grounds of being unable to afford it, but on the grounds of principle. Our goods become available to others. We join the experience that Richard E. Byrd, after months alone in the barren Arctic, recorded in his journal, “I am learning…that a man
can live profoundly without masses of things.”

Contemporary culture lacks both the inward reality and the outward lifestyle of simplicity. We must live in the modern world, and we are affected by its fractured and fragmented state. We are trapped in a maze of competing attachments. One moment we make decisions on the basis of sound reason and the next moment out of fear of what others will think of us. We have no unity or focus around which our lives are oriented.”

Richard Foster (b. 1942) in Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998) 79-80.

Reflect on the wisdom of Solomon: “God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.”

Inwardly, everything in life flows from our relationship with God. Our identity is fixed. Our security is sure. Our needs our met in Him. But we buy all the world’s messages and life becomes complicated, chaotic, and messy.

Now, reflect on the words of Richard E. Byrd, after months alone in the barren Arctic, recorded in his journal, “I am learning…that a man can live profoundly without masses of things.”

Things have become too important to us. “We are trapped in a maze of competing attachments.”

Generosity happens only when you locate inward and outward simplicity. How does today’s reading convict you? Lean into this with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

You’ve got this. God’s got you.

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” Mark 10:51

“The Gospels show that Jesus quickly established intimacy with the people He met. Whether talking with a woman at a well, a religious leader in a garden, or a fisherman by a lake, He cut instantly to the heart of the matter, and after a few brief lines of conversation these people revealed to Jesus their innermost secrets. People of His day tended to keep rabbis and “holy men” at a respectful distance, but Jesus drew out something else, a hunger so deep that people crowded around Him just
to touch His clothes.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 89.

I did not realize that in turning my attention to Colorado authors while stateside this month how much I would come face to face with the generosity of Jesus. I thank God, Richard Foster, and Philip Yancey for this.

Today I see Jesus “quickly established intimacy” and “cut instantly to the heart of the matter” in His interactions with people. What can we learn from this? Many things.

It seems that related to generosity, Jesus always had the person right in front of Him and their needs and well-being His highest priority. He reveals this with statements like, “What do you want me to do for you?”

He came to serve. He did it with love. And as I look closely, He did it with multiple people a day that we might describe as interruptions. They did not have a proverbial appointment with Him. They called out for help.

They pressed through a crowd to find them. It teaches me to be accessible to people and attentive to their needs, and it drives me to be intentional in conversations and to move toward and not away from people. God help me. God help us.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

“This quality of restraint in Jesus — one could almost call it a divine shyness — took me by surprise. I realized, as I absorbed the story of Jesus in the Gospels, that I had expected from Him the same qualities I had met in the fundamentalist church of my childhood. There, I often felt the victim of emotional pressures. Doctrine was dished out in a “Believe and don’t ask questions!” style. Wielding the power of miracle, mystery, and authority, the church left no place for doubt. I also learned manipulative techniques for “soul-winning,” some of which involved misrepresenting myself to the person I was talking to. Yet now I am unable to find any of these qualities in the life of Jesus.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 80.

Amazing how our church traditions shape our view of Jesus. This relates to generosity because if we present Him as full of grace and truth, people can experience the generosity of God incarnate.

If we present Him as full of truth without the grace, we get the harsh heritage Yancey spoke about. If we present Him as full of grace without the truth, we undermine who He is and what He came to accomplish.

Neither of those option appear generous. But if people get the whole picture, they get divine shyness. A God who wants to know them and love them and yet will not force them to take hold of the life that is truly life.

Father in heaven, help us present Jesus as full of grace and truth so people can see and decide to follow. We will do our part to represent you as full of grace and truth. By your Spirit open their eyes to see. Amen.

The disciples came to Him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. Matthew 13:10-17

“I would have marveled at Jesus’ parables, a form that became His trademark. Writers ever since have admired His skill in communicating profound truth through such everyday stories. A scolding woman wears down the patience of a judge. A king plunges into an ill-planned war. A group of children quarrel in the street. A man is mugged and left for dead by robbers. A single woman who loses a penny acts as if she has lost everything. There are no fanciful creatures and sinuous plots in Jesus’ parables; He simply describes the life around Him.

The parables served Jesus’ purposes perfectly. Everyone likes a good story, and Jesus’ knack for storytelling held the interest of a mostly illiterate society of farmers and fishermen. Since stories are easier to remember than concepts or outlines, the parables also helped preserve His message: years later, as people reflected on what Jesus had taught, His parables came to mind in vivid detail. It is one thing to talk in abstract terms about the infinite, boundless love of God. It is quite another to tell of a man who lays down His life for friends, or of a heartsick father who scans the horizon every night for some sign of a wayward son.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 95.

This post reflects a lesson I am learning in my life and leadership, in my teaching and training around the world. I can share lofty ideas and construct complex solutions but if I do not include practical illustrations that reflect the initiative local works must take, I am just wasting my time.

For example, if I share the biblical stories of Nehemiah collaborating with Ezra to unite the people with prayer, lead them in confession, and chart a new course with standards and by affixing their seals the impact can get lost in antiquity.

But when I share how television evangelists corruptly stole church funds for themselves and tell how Billy Graham convened pastors and professions follow the same biblical pattern they not only founded ECFA in USA, they rebuilt the trust of Americans.

I continue sharing that today 2,800+ ECFA-accredited members have $32 billion flow through them to kingdom work, and people get excited. They want a peer accountability group like ECFA in their country. From there, I say what Jesus said at the end of the Good Samaritan parable, “go and do likewise.”

What’s my point today related to generosity? Tell good stories. My aim relates to telling people how they can write a new story for their country by giving themselves to rebuilding their people like Nehemiah and Ezra did. What good stories can you tell?

And the irony of the story I told you links to the prophecy Jesus quotes from Isaiah. If people are not willing to listen keenly and discern the aim of a good story, they lose. But those who pay attention, get more than they every dreamed. They get the keys to unleashing the kingdom.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. Matthew 11:25-26

“Oddly, as I look back on Jesus’ time from the present perspective, it is the very ordinariness of the disciples that gives me hope. Jesus does not seem to choose His followers on the basis of native talent or perfectibility or potential for greatness. When He lived on earth he surrounded Himself with ordinary people who misunderstood Him, failed to exercise much spiritual power, and sometimes behaved like churlish schoolchildren. Three followers in particular (the brothers James and John, and Peter) Jesus singled out for his strongest reprimands — yet two of these would become the most prominent leaders of the early Christians.

I cannot avoid the impression that Jesus prefers working with unpromising recruits. Once, after He had sent out seventy disciples on a training mission, Jesus rejoiced at the successes they reported back. No passage in the Gospels shows Him more exuberant. “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes,Father, for this was your good pleasure.’” From such a ragtag band Jesus founded a church that has not stopped growing in nineteen centuries.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 99-100.

At GTP we say we look for FAT people to serve with us: faithful, available, and teachable. Often these people appear as ordinary people – young, inexperienced, yet committed – and yet we find that God does extraordinary things through them.

Many are unpromising and maybe the last people you might expect to serve in world-changing roles. They have limited education. Like the companions of Paul, not many come from noble birth. And we don’t find them through search organizations.

We find them along the way as we serve like Paul and Silas found Timothy. Jesus met the 12 along the way. He prayed and God confirmed their choosing. One did not work out, of course. We find similiar percentages hold true.

This relates to generosity, because, in the words of Yancey, it gives us all hope that God can use us if he can use a ragtag group of ordinary and unpromising people. Know any such people you can encourage today? Do it (only after looking in the mirror).

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35

“Living on a planet of free will and rebellion, Jesus often must have felt “not at home.” At such times He went aside and prayed, as if to breathe pure air from a life-support system that would give him the strength to continue living on a polluted planet. Yet He did not always get formulaic answers to His prayers. Luke reports that He prayed all night before choosing the twelve disciples—even so, the group included a traitor. In Gethsemane He prayed at first that the cup of suffering be taken from Him, but of course it was not. That scene in the garden shows a man desperately “not at home,” yet resisting all temptations toward supernatural rescue.

For me, one scene in the Gospels brings together the “at home” and “not at home” nature of Jesus. A storm blew up on the Sea of Galilee, nearly capsizing the boat in which Jesus lay sleeping. He stood up and yelled into the wind and spray, “Quiet! Be still!” The disciples shrank back in terror. What kind of person could shout to the weather as if correcting an unruly child? The display of power in the midst of a storm helped convince the disciples that Jesus was unlike any other man.

Yet it also hints at the depths of incarnation. “God is vulnerable,” said the philosopher Jacques Maritain. Jesus had, after all, fallen asleep from sheer fatigue. Moreover, the Son of God was, but for this one instance of miracle, one of its victims: the Creator of rain clouds was rained on, the Maker of stars got hot and sweaty under the Palestine sun. Jesus subjected himself to natural laws even when, at some level, they went against His desires (“If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me”). He would live, and die, by the rules of earth.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 90-91. I am enjoying this modern classic book. I hope you are too.

Generous living, giving, serving, and loving is hard. We live on a planet like Jesus where a lot of the time, things do not go as we expect. Fear of the what ifs can limit or even hinder our generosity.

What if I lose my job? What if that deal falls through? What if I get sick and cannot work? What if? What if? What if? I cannot rebuke the wind and waves when they toss me about. I have to hold on for dear life.

Having spent the last five days by Bear Creek, praying earnestly and vulnerably on three walks a day, I am thankful for prayer as the life-support system modeled by Jesus and available to each of us.

Jesus could not have done God’s will without prayer. We cannot make the contributions in life that God wants us to make without prayer. Let us “at home” and “not at home” with Jesus, fearlessly relying on our good Father.